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Lowell Council bans personal watercraft on Merrimack's most dangerous stretch

By Todd Feathers, tfeathers@lowellsun.com

Updated:
09/12/2017 10:23:52 PM EDT

LOWELL -- Following two deaths involving personal watercraft on the Merrimack River in as many months, the City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to ban the vehicles on the most crowded section of the river.

Representatives from the Lowell Police Department, National Park Service, UMass Lowell, and local boating clubs all spoke in favor of the ordinance, which will prohibit personal watercraft from operating between the Rourke Bridge and Pawtucket Falls, a narrow stretch of water with a public beach that is also often used for recreational and competitive rowing. Violators will be subject to a $300 fine.

"All this activity in a very congested part of the river makes for dangerous conditions," Lowell Police Superintendent William Taylor said. "As I've noted, the river is very narrow at that point and not conducive to high-speed personal watercraft."

Two people have died in personal watercraft on the river and canals this summer. Juan Arroyo-Ortiz, 39, of Lawrence, was killed in a July crash and Isabelle Roche, 16, of Lowell, was killed after a watercraft on which she was a passenger was struck in August by a man who was allegedly drunk.

Several residents and a representative from the personal watercraft industry showed up to oppose the ordinance, arguing that many of the problems raised could be avoided with proper enforcement of existing laws.

"The two tragedies that occurred this year are law-enforcement issues," said Chris Manthos, executive director of the American Watercraft Association.

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"Everything that I've heard described here is already illegal. In Massachusetts, just like everywhere else, we don't hold the innocent responsible for the crimes of the guilty ... it's unfair, it's unjust."

After listening to stories from law enforcement and recreational boaters about personal watercraft drivers racing on the river, jumping wakes, and ignoring speed limits, the city councilors were adamant that the time had come to remove them from the most popular stretch of the river.

"There are people that destroy and ruin it for everybody else," Councilor Rita Mercier said. "The people who came to the podium, you are not the people that we're talking about. But there are people who -- we have to put laws in effect because they don't know, they don't care."

Councilors Jim Leary and Jim Milinazzo suggested the council work with Lowell's state delegation to enact laws requiring personal watercraft users to be licensed and hold insurance."

The council also unanimously approved another public-safety ordinance approved Tuesday, which came in response to an April pub crawl that led to the arrests of two men for allegedly assaulting police officers and sanctions against several of the downtown bars involved.

The event, which catered to college students, was organized online. The bars at which it took place claimed to have no control over the event.

The new ordinance would require any establishments that want to hold a pub crawl to obtain a city permit, designate a main organizer, and post event coordinators at each location.

It would also prohibit bars that have had their alcoholic-beverage licenses suspended within the previous year from participating.

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